Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Liberty Global PLC Class A (NASDAQ:LBTYA) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,946,065 shares of the company’s s

Loxo Oncology (NASDAQ:LOXO) is scheduled to be announcing its earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, August 9th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of ($0.54) per share for the quarter.

Loxo Oncology (NASDAQ:LOXO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday,

Tag Archives: SEM

These days, you generally have three options: large-cap stocks with long dividend histories, municipal bonds and US Treasuries.

Treasuries are considered the safest of that group, and large-cap stocks the riskiest, but they’re still much safer than plenty of other investments, such as small caps and junk bonds.

I’ll show you two low-risk investments that are great buys now in a moment. But first, I want to tell you why recent events have called the safety of some of the options I just named into question.

Let’s start by looking at the following chart:

“Safe” Assets Turn Volatile

First, note how the iShares S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Fund (MUB), a good proxy for municipal bonds as a whole, is the least volatile of the three funds shown above. But right now, it faces a steep downturn relative to its earlier stability.

Top 10 Safest Stocks For 2019: Great Southern Bancorp, Inc.(GSBC)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Stephan Byrd]

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Great Southern Bancorp (GSBC)

For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

Top 10 Safest Stocks For 2019: Netease.com Inc.(NTES)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Rick Munarriz]

Many Chinese growth stocks have started bouncing back, but the same can’t be said aboutNetEase (NASDAQ:NTES). The Chinese online gaming pioneer hit another 52-week low earlier this month, and it’s trading nearly 30% below the all-time highs it hit late last year.

[By Dan Caplinger]

Investors in NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) have generally seen their company benefit from a strong environment in the Chinese video game industry. Impressive growth in revenue and profits in past years helped fuel impressive gains for NetEase shares, and the appetite for more from consumers in China and elsewhere has seemed insatiable. Yet in every growth stock’s experience, a company eventually starts to face challenges in sustaining growth, and the key question becomes what that company does to restart its growth engines.

[By Shane Hupp]

News articles about NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) have been trending somewhat positive this week, Accern reports. Accern ranks the sentiment of news coverage by reviewing more than 20 million news and blog sources. Accern ranks coverage of companies on a scale of negative one to one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. NetEase earned a media sentiment score of 0.23 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned news coverage about the technology company an impact score of 47.5808045346287 out of 100, meaning that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the next few days.

[By Anders Bylund]

Chinese online media giant NetEase Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) is hardly the talk of the town.Sporting a $30 billion market cap, NetEase works in a consumer-facing industry, and share prices have bounced between $222 and $378 over the last year. And these are the hallmarks of the market’s most-discussed tickers.

[By Harsh Chauhan]

Over the years, NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) has made the most of the opportunities presented by China’s mobile and online gaming market, and has also diversified into fast-growing verticals like ecommerce to supercharge its prospects. Not surprisingly, NetEase investors have been a happy lot, as their investment in the Chinese internet specialist has experienced fivestraight years of double-digit percentage gains.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE: IFF) and Westlake Chemical (NYSE:WLKP) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and profitability.

[By Max Byerly]

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF)

For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

[By Max Byerly]

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) was downgraded by research analysts at ValuEngine from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday.

[By Lisa Levin]

Some of the stocks that may grab investor focus today are:

Wall Street expects Sysco Corporation (NYSE: SYY) to report quarterly earnings at $0.64 per share on revenue of $14.34 billion before the opening bell. Sysco shares rose 0.18 percent to close at $62.29 on Friday.
Analysts expect Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN) to report quarterly earnings at $1.32 per share on revenue of $9.89 billion before the opening bell. Tyson shares rose 1.39 percent to close at $66.97 on Friday.
International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE: IFF) reported upbeat earnings for its first quarter and agreed to acquire Frutarom for $7.1 billion. International Flavors shares dropped 5.03 percent to $135.00 in pre-market trading.
Before the opening bell, Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (NYSE: LPX) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.67 per share on revenue of $692.63 million. Louisiana-Pacific shares gained 2.09 percent to close at $28.32 on Friday.
Analysts are expecting Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company (NYSE: WLTW) to have earned $3.01 per share on revenue of $2.23 billion in the latest quarter. Willis Towers Watson will release earnings before the markets open. Willis Towers Watson shares gained 0.98 percent to close at $148.91 on Friday.

Find out what's going on in today's market and bring any questions you have to Benzinga's PreMarket Prep.

Top 10 Safest Stocks For 2019: Senior Housing Properties Trust(SNH)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Brian Feroldi, Matthew Frankel, and Dan Caplinger]

Retirees should favor companies that operate in stable industries and offer their shareholders a predictable stream of income. So which stocks in particular do we think can fulfill their needs? We asked a team of Motley Fool investors to weigh in, and they pickedSenior Housing Properties Trust (NASDAQ:SNH),Prologis(NYSE:PLD), and 3M (NYSE:MMM).

For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

[By Max Byerly]

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Select Medical (SEM)

For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

[By Ethan Ryder]

Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) insider Scott A. Romberger sold 5,000 shares of Select Medical stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.63, for a total transaction of $93,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 158,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,952,575.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

[By Ethan Ryder]

Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) Chairman Robert A. Ortenzio sold 21,052 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.52, for a total value of $389,883.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 6,789,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,746,132.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Top 10 Safest Stocks For 2019: Terra Nitrogen Company L.P.(TNH)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Joseph Griffin]

Evogene (NASDAQ: EVGN) and Terra Nitrogen (NYSE:TNH) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

[By Logan Wallace]

Media stories about Terra Nitrogen (NYSE:TNH) have been trending somewhat negative this week, Accern Sentiment reports. The research firm identifies positive and negative press coverage by monitoring more than 20 million news and blog sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Terra Nitrogen earned a news impact score of -0.02 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news articles about the basic materials company an impact score of 46.8553415416776 out of 100, indicating that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the stock’s share price in the next few days.

Top 10 Safest Stocks For 2019: ServiceNow, Inc.(NOW)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Michael A. Robinson]

With that in mind, let’s look closer at ServiceNow Inc. (Nasdaq: NOW)…

The company formed in San Diego in 2004 when a group of techies and surfers banded together with a simple mission. They wanted to make the complex and all-consuming tasks of running an IT department easy to manage from the cloud.

[By ]

Cramer said he’ll be listening to Tyson Foods (TSN) on Monday, but with rising input costs, the bears are likely to keep winning in the short-term. On a positive note, Service Now (NOW) will be holding an analyst day, which will be sure to ignite the cloud stocks.

[By Motley Fool Staff]

In this segment of the Motley Fool Money podcast, host Chris Hill and senior Fool analysts Jason Moser, David Kretzmann, and Jeff Fischer respond to a listener from across the pond who is feeling enthusiastic about ServiceNow(NYSE:NOW)and wants their views on the growing company and its enterprise software peers. They weigh in on the investment thesis.

But Amazon and Facebook aren’t even the cheapest of the FANG stocks. That honor goes to Alphabet, another Cramer favorite. He also noted strong earnings from cloud king Service Now (NOW) , up 4.5%, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) , up 13.7% and Intel (INTC) .

[By ]

But Netflix signifies more than just great content, it’s also a beacon for the rapid adoption of the cloud. Netflix is built on the back of Amazon’s web services and also cloud infrastructure from Google. Amazon rallies 4.3% today, while Google was up 3.1%. All of this is good news for a host of other cloud names, Cramer said, including Red Hat (RHT) , ServiceNOW (NOW) , Splunk (SPLK) and Workday (WDAY) .

Top 10 Safest Stocks For 2019: Enphase Energy, Inc.(ENPH)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Travis Hoium]

Shares of microinverter Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) jumped as much as 38.4% in trading Wednesday after the company announced an important acquisition of SunPower’s (NASDAQ:SPWR) microinverter business. Shares held steady with their gains throughout the day and were up 34% at 11:50 a.m. EDT.

[By Travis Hoium]

Shares of micro-inverter manufacturer Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) rose as much as 14% in trading Wednesday as investors continued to see a bright future for the company. Shares lost some of their steam late in the day, but were still up 8.1% at 1:50 p.m. EDT.

[By ]

This direct current (DC) optimized inverter system maximizes power generation at the individual PV module level while lowering the cost of energy produced by the solar PV system. SolarEdge’s patented inverter is not only best in class, but also contains an energy storage unit and/or charger, which differentiates it from its main competitor, Enphase energy (Nasdaq: ENPH).

Top 10 Safest Stocks For 2019: Bryn Mawr Bank Corporation(BMTC)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Max Byerly]

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Bryn Mawr Bank (BMTC)

For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

[By Stephan Byrd]

Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:BMTC) reached a new 52-week high and low during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $48.00 and last traded at $48.20, with a volume of 762 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $47.85.

[By Logan Wallace]

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Bryn Mawr Bank (BMTC)

For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

Top 10 Safest Stocks For 2019: Aegion Corp(AEGN)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Joseph Griffin]

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Aegion (AEGN)

For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

[By Shane Hupp]

LSV Asset Management decreased its position in Aegion Corp (NASDAQ:AEGN) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 108,700 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 6,600 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management’s holdings in Aegion were worth $2,490,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

[By Stephan Byrd]

Aegion (NASDAQ:AEGN) was upgraded by stock analysts at BidaskClub from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Since its legalization four years ago, online gambling in New Jersey has become the crutch upon which the state’s casino industry leans. Last year was the first year in a decade that Atlantic City’s gambling halls saw revenue rise year over year, and it was only because of internet gaming that it was able to do so. Without it, casino revenue would have declined once again.

As 2017 gets rolling, and relatively new online sites establish themselves in the state, investors may be surprised to learn which of New Jersey’s online casino operators are the fastest growing.

Image source: Getty Images.

A limited field

Along with Nevada and Delaware, New Jersey is just one of three states where internet gambling is legal, and the Garden State has the distinction of having a much larger market than the other two. Still, that hasn’t stopped the casino industry from shrinking.

Hot Casino Stocks To Buy For 2019: Daimler AG (DDAIF)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By John Rosevear]

Ionity, a German company formed late last year, has begun the process of building a network of fast-charging stations across Europe. It’s a joint venture between Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG (NASDAQOTH:DDAIF), BMW AG (NASDAQOTH:BAMXF), and Volkswagen AG (NASDAQOTH:VLKAY) together with its subsidiaries Porsche and Audi.

[By John Rosevear]

German auto and truck maker Daimler AG (NASDAQOTH:DDAIF) cut its 2018 profit expectations, warning that new tariffs on vehicles exported from the United States to China are likely to hurt sales of the high-profit Mercedes-Benz SUVs it builds in Alabama for global markets.

[By ]

For the past five years, I have been actively developing the North American and Caribbean energy storage market. In this time, I have accumulated a vast amount of knowledge and a deep understanding of related use cases, technology, supply chain and sales channels. Prior to entering the energy storage markets, I spent another five years with various clean technology start-up organizations. The experience that I harvested during this period included five years with Toronto- based Eguana Technologies (OTCQB:EGTYF), which designs, manufactures and distributes intelligent power electronics and power conversion systems for distributed smart grid and energy storage applications. I also spent two years with sonnen, a privately held Bavaria-based technology and products Innovation Company focused on designing, developing, manufacturing and distributing advanced lithium-based energy storage systems for the residential, small commercial and industrial sectors. Most recently, I worked at Mercedes-Benz Energy, which is a fully owned subsidiary of Daimler AG (OTCPK:DDAIF). The company is responsible for the development and distribution of stationary energy storage under the Mercedes-Benz brand. In Q2 2018, Mercedes-Benz pulled the plug on its efforts in the residential energy storage market, primarily due to a lack of batteries. The company made a strategic decision to focus on the electrification of its automotive fleet and not focus on the stationary energy storage market. It is in my opinion that this is a foolish move, as the energy markets have now crossed paths with the automotive industry.

[By ]

Enter alpha-En and chairman Jerry Feldman, who has already established partnerships with Princeton University, Argonne National Laboratory, and Mercedes-Benz (OTCPK:DDAIF) to further develop a more practical method for producing pure lithium metal at room temperature, without the older, expensive manufacturing practices and then bringing the batteries to the market at scale:

Hot Casino Stocks To Buy For 2019: Facebook, Inc.(FB)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Douglas A. McIntyre]

The attacks about “fake news” on Facebook Inc. (NYSE: FB) have moved outside the United States. According to CNBC:

Rights and democracy advocates are calling attention to Facebook’s role in spreading misinformation again this time in the Philippines.

[By Evan Niu, CFA]

That’s in stark contrast to Google News, which will not use human editors at all, nor will Google News have partnerships with publishers. That’s potentially dangerous, and it clearly worked out horrendously for Facebook (NASDAQ:FB). Facebook faced controversy in 2016 over allegations that its human editors for the Trending section suppressed conservative views. Within just a couple months, Facebook fired all of its human editors (who were third-party contractors instead of full-time employees) in favor of the almighty algorithm. We all know what happened next: Fake news immediatelystartedto spread like wildfire on the service, and the rest is scandalous history.

[By Todd Shriber, ETF Professor]

Seven of the top 10 components in that index report earnings next week, according to Direxion. That group includes Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), which combine for over 18 percent of the Technology Select Sector Index. TECL and TECS can be ideal ways for short-term traders to play post-earnings moves in big-name tech stocks.

Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in shares of Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) by 6.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 229,531 shares of the health services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,026 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN’s holdings in Select Medical were worth $3,960,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

[By Ethan Ryder]

Highbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 166,839 shares of the health services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,878,000. Highbridge Capital Management LLC owned 0.12% of Select Medical at the end of the most recent quarter.

[By Ethan Ryder]

Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) Chairman Robert A. Ortenzio sold 21,052 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.52, for a total value of $389,883.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 6,789,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,746,132.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

[By Max Byerly]

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Select Medical (SEM)

For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

Hot Casino Stocks To Buy For 2019: Unilever N.V. (UNLVF)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By ]

In recent weeks, Procter & Gamble (PG) has received a couple of downgrades following its Q3 FY2018 results announcement. In contrast, its peer in the consumer products space, Unilever (UL)(UN)(OTCPK:UNLNF)(OTCPK:UNLYF)(OTCPK:UNLVF), was upgraded by UBS in late March. Investors also cheered the announcement of a fresh 6 billion ($7.4 billion) stock buyback program and the raising of its quarterly dividend by 8% to 0.3872/share from 0.3585. In 2017, Unilever has already completed a 5 billion share buyback programme.

Hot Casino Stocks To Buy For 2019: NBT Bancorp Inc.(NBTB)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Stephan Byrd]

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on NBT Bancorp (NBTB)

For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

[By Ethan Ryder]

NBT Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBTB) was downgraded by analysts at BidaskClub from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

[By Max Byerly]

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on NBT Bancorp (NBTB)

For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

Hot Casino Stocks To Buy For 2019: Houston Wire & Cable Company(HWCC)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Max Byerly]

Houston Wire & Cable (NASDAQ:HWCC) hit a new 52-week high and low during mid-day trading on Wednesday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $8.40 and last traded at $8.35, with a volume of 604 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $7.90.

About 10 days ago, I provided an update on the carnage for shares of DryShips (NASDAQ:DRYS). Shares continued to plunge following news of the fifth reverse split in 13 months, and I stated that things were likely to get much worse. Unfortunately for investors, shares continue to sink, and the company’s latest filing regarding the Kalani sale shows there is still a long way to go.

As of my previous article, DryShips was set to have about 47 million shares outstanding, along with $188 million worth of shares remaining to be potentially sold in the latest Kalani deal. Even though shares continue to fall, there has not been that much of a change in the latest program as seen in the most recent 6-K filing:

As mutually agreed to by the Company and the Investor, the Company sold (“I”) 797,432 Shares to the Investor, pursuant to a Fixed Request Notice with a Fixed Amount Requested of $5.0 million, following a Pricing Period of April 10, 2017, for a Fixed Request Amount of approximately $1.82 million at a price per share of approximately $2.28 mutually agreed to by the parties, resulting in estimated net proceeds of approximately $1.80 million, after deducting estimated aggregate offering expenses, and (ii) 7,115,017 Shares to the Investor, pursuant to a Fixed Request Notice with a Fixed Amount Requested of $25.0 million, following a Pricing Period from April 11, 2017 to April 17, 2017, for a Fixed Request Amount of approximately $12.71 million at a price per share of approximately $1.79 mutually agreed to by the parties, resulting in estimated net proceeds of approximately $12.58 million, after deducting estimated aggregate offering expenses.

In May of this year, at the annual Collision Conference, advertising and media executives of the world’s biggest traffic-oriented (and ad-supported) websites asked themselves a crucial question: How do we save online advertising from itself?

The question itself is a reflection of the new reality of the internet…. it’s become so big, so full, so cross-border, so competitive, and so promotional that it’s become an unwieldy mess. Twenty years ago, click-through rates were greater than 40%. Now they’re a mere 0.6%, as consumers (1) are saturated by marketing messages, and (2) have largely learned that ads don’t lead them to a product or service they care about. Digital advertising simply isn’t what it used to be.

While the answer to the question “how can digital advertising be saved?” is a complex one, a company called Intelligent Content Enterprises Inc. (OTCMKTS:ICEIF) addresses at least one aspect of the question, by doing what the web’s capitalists have failed to figure out how to do well. What’s that? ICEIF understands that an ad has to be relevant to a user no matter where that user is, and that to see an ad at all, a user has to be able to read the web’s content in his or her native language.

Intelligent Content Enterprises, through its Digital Widget Factory website www.digiwidgy.com, has tackled the aforementioned issue head-on, creating a rich website with a built-in translation tool which displays advertisements and offers unique to that reader’s location, and delivers that marketing message in his or her native language.

It may sound like a lot of work at first glance. But, it’s worth it.

Digital industry research outfit Common Sense Advisory reports that of the more than 3 billion internet users worldwide, approximately 73% — 2.2 Billion people — are browsing the web in a language other than English. That’s quite a disparity from the fact that more than 50% of the content on the web is na

[By Bryan Murphy]

If there was any doubt that the future of video as a digital medium was here to stay, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) just wiped that doubt away. It’s going to open up its video-sharing platform to anyone — not just vetted creators with huge followings — and split ad revenue with them. In so doing, it now offers a similar deal (though a more generous deal) that Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and YouTube also offers video creators.

It’s just a microcosm of the shape of things to come… or the shape of things as they already are. Last year was the first year internet users spent more time watching videos online than they did engaged in social media, averaging more one hour and sixteen minutes of video viewing per day.

Perhaps more important, the amount of ad revenue the likes of Facebook, and now Twitter, generate via online video is small, but growing very fast. The total ad spend allocated for digital video has jumped from 2.4% in 2013 to 4.4% today, and that’s expected to double again in two years.

Yet, for as much revenue as online video can drive and as big as it’s gotten, the ad-display technology remains alarmingly inelegant, even or veteran players like YouTube and Facebook. This clunky display of ads — and Twitter will likely keep it clunky, at least initially — increasingly makes a company called Intelligent Content Enterprises Inc (OTCMKTS:ICEIF) not just well-positioned, but a potential acquisition target.

Intelligent Content Enterprises has developed a tool called Clix Video(tm), which the company described as a way to enable “digital and mobile viewers to instantaneously connect to web and mobile sites by clicking on custom interactive tags within the video broadcasts to make social media connections, to review extra and exclusive content and make online and mobile purchases directly via the video broadcast providing a richer, deeper consumer experience related to the video content. “

In English, it just means Clix Vide

[By Bryan Murphy]

In hindsight, June’s news from Intelligent Content Enterprises Inc. (OTCMKTS:ICEIF) should come as no surprise. In May the organization announced it was buying Catch Star Studios LLC for the purpose of creating its own sports-related television shows that would be aired by broadcast as well as online. Now it’s begun creating that television content, following in the footsteps of much bigger original-content creators such as Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX).

What might comes as a surprise to existing and potential ICEIF shareholders, however, is how big highly-focused original television programming is now that the lines between the internet and cable television have not only been crossed, but erased.

May wasn’t just a pivotal month for Intelligent Content Enterprises because it’s when the acquisition of Catch Star Studios was put into motion. May was also the month Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) reported some stunning results of a new study about digital video-viewing habits and preferences. The key findings? Regular viewers of original digital video programming in the U.S. have grown from 45 million in 2013 to 63 million, and the advertisements displayed via a digital broadcast of such programming are liked and remembered by far more viewers than they are when part of a conventional cable television broadcast.

Said another way as far as advertisers are concerned, the world wide web is the new cable television. That’s not to say cable television has become irrelevant. Savvy content makers are now doing both, while also making a point of creating their own customized content now that the fight for viewers has gotten brutal.

Take Netflix as an example. It has a pair of smash hits with its self-produced ‘Orange is the New Black’ and ‘House of Cards.’ Amazon.com is getting into the game too, with its ‘Mozart in the Jungle’ recently being awarded two Golden Globes.

This same paradigm shift h

recommended stocks to buy: Culp, Inc.(CFI)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Ben Levisohn]

Our analysis around past CEO transitions shows that in the absence of an inherited bubble, or milked portfolio, both of which are factually absent here when looking at the numbers, balance sheet matters ((Danaher (DHR)) from Culp (CFI) to Joyce/3M (MMM) from Buckley to Thulin), and here incoming CEO Adamczyk has a bazooka at his disposal, a dramatic differentiator. With these resources, stepping away from the 10% EPS growth target would be unnecessarily conservative, and a major misstep early on, as we see plenty of smart ways to enhance long term growth while at the same time maintaining earnings visibility, the most important determinant of a premium multiple in this sector. Honeywell is our top pick.

recommended stocks to buy: Allstate Corporation (The)(ALL)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Michael Flannelly]

Wells Fargo analysts see a number of upside catalysts for The Allstate Corporation (ALL), plus a positive trend for automobile insurers as a whole. As such, the analysts upgraded the insurance provider on Thursday.

The analysts upgraded ALL from “Market Perform” to “Outperform” and boosted its valuation range from $48-$52 to $58-$62. This new valuation range suggests a 16% to 24% upside to the stock’s Wednesday closing price of $50.11.

“We are upgrading the shares of Allstate to Outperform from Market Perform on the basis of several fundamental reasons unique to the company as well as several positive, emerging structural trends for auto insurers in general,” Wells Fargo analyst John Hall stated. “We do not believe that the market has yet paid for potential unit growth within Allstate’s branded standard book of auto insurance, something we envision occurring over the next 6-12 months.”

As for some of the positive personal auto insurance sector trends, Hall noted, “These would include shifting demographics toward a safer driving population mix (more old drivers and fewer young drivers), changing driving habits particularly among millennials, a safer U.S. personal auto fleet, rising car sales pointing to positive symbol shift as well as industry conditions encouraging market share consolidation.”

recommended stocks to buy: Markel Corporation(MKL)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Matthew Frankel]

Markel (NYSE:MKL) has been referred to as a mini-Berkshire many times, and for good reason. The company uses the same general business model as Warren Buffett does at Berkshire, using the cash from its insurance businesses to buy stocks and entire companies.

[By Ashley Moore]

Here is a table of the 10 most expensive stocks trading on U.S. markets today:

The big trigger for our bet against Trupanion is today’s decisive cross under the 200-day moving average lie (green), which also yanked TRUP under a horizontal floor around $14.20. The kicker/clincher is the fact that the 20-day moving average line pulled under its 100-day line last week. As you can see on the chart though, the volume trend — as evidenced by the falling Chaikin Money Flow indicator — has been bearish for a while. This tumble is just the materialization of that bearish undertow, but the selling could pick up in earnest now that this technical blow has been dealt.

Our Under the Radar Moversnewsletter has a more detailed discussion about Trupanion Incs techncial chart and a potential shorting strategy:

Top 10 Medical Stocks For 2018: Heartware International, Inc.(HTWR)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Spencer Israel]

4. HeartWare International Inc (NASDAQ: HTWR) – The heart device maker agreed to be acquired by Medtronic for $58 per share in cash two weeks ago. Prior to that the stock had been trading just above $30.

Top 10 Medical Stocks For 2018: Capstead Mortgage Corporation(CMO)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Amanda Alix]

As the spread between short-term and long-terminterest rates began to contract, strangling profits, competition for MBSes also caused prices to rise. Other agency mREITs were nervous, too. CYS Investments (NYSE: CYS ) noted at the time that QE3 turned the Federal Reserve into the sector’s biggest rival for mortgage bonds, and as spreads began to shrink, so did dividends. By December of last year, Annaly, Armour, and Capstead Mortgage (NYSE: CMO ) had all trimmed their payouts.

Top 10 Medical Stocks For 2018: Tableau Software, Inc.(DATA)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Monica Gerson]

Benzinga's newsdesk monitors options activity to notice unusual patterns. These large volume (and often out of the money) trades were initially published intraday in Benzinga Professional . These trades were placed during Monday’s regular session.

Top 10 Medical Stocks For 2018: Tencent Holdings Ltd (700)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Belinda Cao]

Sohu.com Inc. (SOHU), which sold a stake in its search unit to Tencent Holdings Ltd. (700), advanced 11 percent for the week to $72.06. It retreated 5.9 percent Sept. 20. Tencent, Chinas biggest Internet company by market value, paid $448 million for a 36.5 percent stake in Sohus Sogou unit last week and merge its own search service with Sogou.

United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) traded up 1.89% at $126.10. The stock’s 52-week range is $106.85 to $126.44 and the high was posted today. Volume was about 15% above the daily average of around 3 million. The company’s Pratt & Whitney division has won some big contracts in the last two day: one related to the Delta purchase of 100 Airbus planes and the other with the Pentagon for future maintenance of the company’s F119 engine.

United Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UTX) traded up 1.35% at $118.45. The stock’s 52-week range is $96.89 to $119.258, and the high was posted this afternoon. Volume was about a third higher than the daily average of around 3 million. The industrial giant reported results this morning that were better than estimates on both profits and revenues.

Top 10 Medical Stocks For 2018: Uni-Pixel, Inc.(UNXL)

Uni-Pixel (UNXL) manufactures electronic film products using its proprietary manufacturing process, UniBoss. This stock closed up 7.6% to $16.84 in Monday’s trading session.

Monday’s Volume: 1.88 million

Three-Month Average Volume: 1 million

Volume % Change: 108%

From a technical perspective, UNXL bounced sharply higher here right off its 50-day moving average of $15.89 with above-average volume. This stock looks to be forming a double bottom chart pattern at $14.91 to $15.16. If that bottom holds, then shares of UNXL could see a continuation of Monday’s upside action.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in UNXL as long as it’s trending above $15.16 or $14.91 and then once it sustains a move or close above Monday’s high of $17.53 with volume that hits near or above 1 million shares. If we get that move soon, then UNXL will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance level at its 200-day moving average of $19.89.

[By Lisa Levin]

Shares of UniPixel Inc (NASDAQ: UNXL) were down 22 percent to $1.63 after the company announced a public offering of newly issued shares of stock. UniPixel plans to offer 5.35 million shares of its own stock at a public offering price of $1.50 per share with the option for its underwriters to purchase up to an additional 802,500 shares.

[By Peter Graham]

Small cap sensor film stockUniPixel Inc (NASDAQ: UNXL) reportedQ1 2017 earnings after the Thursday market close withshares falling both on Thursday and in afterhours trading. UniPixel is not well covered or known by analysts yet and this can make shares volatile. However and last September, we had suggested a long position in the stock based upon technicals by saying:

[By Peter Graham]

Small cap sensor film stock UniPixel Inc (NASDAQ: UNXL) is sinking by a double digit percentage in after-hours and pre-market trading after reporting Q4 earnings. The problem for UniPixel is that only a few analysts cover the small cap stock and the bottom line loss was a bit worst than the 10 cent loss they were expecting. The stock also had a slight uptick ahead of earnings:

Top 10 Medical Stocks For 2018: Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(ICPT)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Peter Graham]

Small cap liver biopharmaceutical stock Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: ICPT) reportedQ2 2017 earnings before the market opened on Monday with both the top and bottom lines beating expectations plus the Companyreported that amid-stage clinical trial met its primary endpoint; but sharesended the day down13.26%. Intercept Pharmaceuticals recognized $30.4 million of net sales of Ocaliva for Q2 2017 versus $75k and a net loss of $86.6 million versus a net loss of $77.3 million. Ocaliva was approved by the U.S.FDA in May 2016 for the treatment of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) in combination with ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) in adults with an inadequate response to UDCA or as monotherapy in adults unable to tolerate UDCA. As of June 30, 2017,the Companyhad cash, cash equivalents and investment securities available for sale of approximately $550.3 million versus$689.4 million as of December 31, 2016. The CEO commented:

[By Paul Ausick]

Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ICPT) dropped more than 17% Friday to post a new 52-week low of $60.97 after closing Thursday at $73.70. The 52-week high is $172.75. Volume of more than 10 million shares traded was about 12 times the daily average. The FDA on Thursday issued a warning letter on the company’s liver disease treatment.

Top 10 Medical Stocks For 2018: Travelzoo Inc.(TZOO)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Casey Wilson]

Year to date, the company’s stock price has fallen over 42%. Meanwhile, its competitors’ share prices have increased during the same period. The Travelzoo Inc. (Nasdaq: TZOO) share price has gained 41% YTD, and Priceline Group Inc. (Nasdaq: PCLN) has gained over 19%.

Only 4.6% of U.S. households told census takers they had annuities or trusts in 2013, but those households had an average of $180,271 in annuity and trust assets each.

The median value of trust and annuity assets was $60,000. That means that half of the households with annuities and trusts had less than $60,000 in those arrangements, and half had more.

In 2014, retiree spending of pension benefits generated $1.2 trillion in total economic output, supporting 7.1 million jobs, according to…

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Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In Right Now: H&E Equipment Services Inc.(HEES)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Peter Graham]

A long term performance chart shows shares of United Rentalsgiving a similar performance and pulling away fromsmall cap peer H&E Equipment Services, Inc (NASDAQ: HEES):

Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Meredith Corporation(MDP)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Douglas A. McIntyre]

Meredith Corp. (NYSE: MDP), the publishing, database and television station owner, has been described in several media reports as the most likely buyer of Time Inc. (NYSE: TIME). However, there are reports that the talks have stalled over valuation, which many experts believe will need to be above $20 a share to get the approval of Time’s board.

[By Lisa Levin]

Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP), a company that owns multiple TV stations, digital and mobile operations and other media platforms, agreed to acquire Time Inc (NYSE: TIME), the content company best known for operating People, Time, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated magazines.

[By Lisa Levin]

Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP), a company that owns multiple TV stations, digital and mobile operations and other media platforms, agreed to acquire Time Inc (NYSE: TIME), the content company best known for operating People, Time, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated magazines.

[By Nelson Hem]

See what Barron's feels the prospects are for Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE: ETP) if it cuts its distribution and dumps its general partner, and salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE: CRM) with its generous potential upside. Also whether regional banks like Zions Bancorp (NASDAQ: ZION) could see a boost from a proposed regulatory change, and the sweetheart deal the Koch brothers got with Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP).

[By Jon C. Ogg]

Meredith Corp. (NYSE: MDP) was maintained as Hold but the price target was raised to $65 (versus a $62.75 close) at Benchmark.

Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In Right Now: SK TELECOM ADR EACH REP 1/9 KRW500(CIT)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Lisa Abramowicz]

There was this maturity wall that people were terrified of, said Neil Wessan, the group head of New York-based CIT Group Inc. (CIT)s capital markets unit. Thats been spread out over a much broader period of time.

[By Ben Levisohn]

We will admit that these latter assumptions are somewhat arbitrary, but nevertheless we cannot help escape the view that in 2017 everything will likely be at least a little adverse to prior expectations. On average our estimate reductions are 8%, and range from 3% at CIT Group (CIT) to 13% at Goldman Sachs. With that, we are lowering our PT of Bank of America,Citigroup andGoldman Sachs from $20, $70 and $243 to $18, $63 and $214, respectively…

Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Washington Federal, Inc.(WAFD)

Oshkosh is a manufacturer of specialty vehicles and vehicle bodies and is based in Wisconsin. The company operates under four business segments, namely access equipment, defense, fire and emergency, and commercial.

Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Emerson Electric Company(EMR)

4) However, our view that the upward trajectory in customer capex spending remains muted combined with the stock still trading at >19x NTM EPS limits our upgrade to just Market-Perform despite our long-term bullish view of industrial automation in general and Rockwell specifically

[By Paul Ausick]

Blaming the unwillingness of its target even to discuss a buyout, Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) on Tuesday announced that it has withdrawn its unsolicited offer to acquire Rockwell Automation Inc. (NYSE: ROK) for $225 a share in a deal valued at nearly $30 billion.

[By Ben Levisohn]

Lower WACC has moved in lockstep with higher multiples and as the rate regime shifts, we see limited excuses for another leg absent material growth. EPS growth/visibility at a reasonable price will matter, with those that are not reflecting upside today seeing multiple expansion and safety stocks that are not safe reverting. With this backdrop, our top picks are Honeywell, Ingersoll-Rand, and Danaher, with a positive bias on Neutral-rated United Technologies, while we are most negative onGeneral Electric and Rockwell Automation (ROK), with a negative bias on N-rated $51.92 Emerson Electric (EMR)…

[By Ben Levisohn]

Industrial companies like Dover (DOV), Emerson Electric (EMR), Eaton (ETN), 3M (MMM) and Rockwell Automation (ROK) are calling for earnings growth to get better during the second half of the year. Bernstein’s Steven Winoker and team aren’t feeling as confident:

[By Ben Levisohn]

Bernstein’s Steven Winoker and team contend that Brexit is “bad for all our companies it is just a matter of degree.” They explain why Tyco International (TYC), Idex (IEX), Danaher (DHR),Honeywell International (HON) and Emerson Electric (EMR) could feel some degree of pain:

Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Avangrid, Inc.(AGR)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By WWW.THESTREET.COM]

For his “Executive Decision” segment, Cramer sat down with James Torgerson, CEO of Avangrid (AGR) , the wind-power utility which just posted a three-cents-a-share earnings beat. Shares of Avangrid are up 10% for the year with a 4% dividend yield.

[By WWW.MONEYSHOW.COM]

Avangrid (AGR) was formed late last year by the merger of New England-based utility UIL Holdings (UIL) with the U.S. subsidiary of the Spanish utility giant Iberdrola SA (IBRDY).

Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In Right Now: SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Ben Levisohn]

Shares of Bank of America have tumbled 4.7% to $23.30 at 11:30 a.m. today, Morgan Stanley has fallen 3.4% to $43.06, Goldman Sachs has declined 2.6% to $235.95, and Leucadia National is off 1.6% to $25.86. The SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) has dropped 3.9% to $42.23.

[By Ben Levisohn]

Shares of Wells Fargo have dropped 2.2% to $52.08 at 2:17 p.m. today, while the SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) has risen 0.1% to $40.05, and the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) has fallen 0.7% to $22.06.

[By ]

Shares of banks have underperformed this year on a narrow net interest margin, the difference between long-term and short-term rates, and continued regulatory costs from post-crisis legislation. The SPDR S&P Bank ETF (NYSE: KBE) has returned just 3.3% this year versus a 15% increase in the broader S&P 500 index.

Small cap New York City based burger stock Shake Shack Inc (NYSE: SHAK) reportedQ2 2017 earnings after the market closed Thursday. Before earnings were reported, Barrons noted thatthere were twice as many rainy days in the Northeast (where most of Shake Shacks locations are) as there were a year

Stocks fell on Wednesday amid persistent worries over U.S. trade policy, giving up earlier gains as the Trump administration opted to use existing law to restrict Chinese investments in the United States. This marked a softer-than-expected stance that initially eased concerns over the fallout of

It has been a long time since Newfield (NFX) announced it was leaving the Bakken to focus on wells in Utah. While that idea didn't seem to work out, its leasehold in the SCOOP/STACK has interesting potential. Play results have been inconsistent, but we are beginning to figure out what the play ca